Best Thing I Never Had
by RoseFleur
Summary: He calls her every day, he picks her up when she needs, he'll cook her dinner, he'll tuck her in at night. He's her best friend.


**A/N: Yet again, I do not own Glee. This thought would just not leave me alone. I hope you enjoy and if you do check out what else I have written. Makes me smile. **

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><p>She's drying her hair in the mirror when the phone rings. She can just hear it over the sound of the hairdryer and 'Come Dine With Me' on the TV beside her. She mutes the TV just as one of the four serves the main course, which in her expert cooking opinion looks disgusting and probably tastes the same. She unplugs the hairdryer, eying her half wet curls in the mirror and crosses over to her phone by her bed. She picks it up and cradles in between her ear and her shoulder.<p>

"Hello?"

"Hey you," A warm voice fills her ear and spreads to her mouth, where she smiles at the sound of his habitual greeting.

"Hey you." She returns and sits down on the bed.

"How was your day?" says the voice, full of interest and consideration.

"Just fine, I finished up on a piece and got assigned a new production to go to tonight. 'The Black Door Theatre Company' is doing a performance of 'West Side Story' over the next few weeks and they want me to go and check it out and do a write up." She tells him her news, twirling the phone cord between her fingers.

"Tonight?" He asks to which she replies,

"Yes, you caught me in the middle of doing my hair."

"We'll assume that the show starts at 7.30 so I'll pick you up at 7." He affirms without even asking.

"Noah," she begins to protest, "You really don't need to do that. This is work for me; it's going to be really boring for you…"

"I want to." He says, and she can almost hear him smiling down the line. "Besides, what are friends for?"

She has to agree with this and after a moment she hangs up the phone and returns to drying her hair.

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><p>She opens the door with a flourish and his eyes widen momentarily before he composes himself and tells her she looks beautiful.<p>

"As usual," He finishes, flashing her one of his toothy grins he saves specially for her. She has to admit that for once she agrees with him. She is wearing a stretchy, off the shoulder dress in red, with a ruffled skirt that flutters in the breeze. Her hair has been pinned to one side, and her brown curls cascade onto her right shoulder. She smiles up at him through thick lashes and gladly takes the arm he offers to her.

The performance is mediocre. Their Maria doesn't have quite the emotion that she would've liked and the chemistry between her and Tony is average at best. And don't even get her started on Riff's death scene. She usually bawls like a baby at this part, but as he reminds her,

"Well, you can see his feet moving Rach."

She'll write a nice review, celebrating the good parts like the staging and Anita's impressive choreography but if she's honest, she would've rather stayed at home and seen who won 'Come Dine With Me.'

This, he confirms during the drive home.

"We could've just stayed in Rach and watched the film; it would've been a lot better."

Probably a better idea than rubbish reality shows, she reasons. She remembers forcing him to watch the film in high school, and for once he accepted her choice and enjoyed it. She remembers now how much he enjoys 'West Side Story'.

"It's like, romantic but with fighting as well, guys protecting their turf, it's cool man." He said at the time.

She invites him in once he returns her to her door and he accepts gladly. She changes into her rather more comfortable joggers and an oversized _'I'm Defying Gravity' _T-shirt. She chucks him his own joggers which he happens to leave at her place every time, so much so that she doesn't see the point in giving them back to him. He throws on his OSU hoodie which sits with his joggers at the back of her wardrobe. She's worn it herself a couple of times, but he pretends not to notice her flowery scent on it as he pulls it over his chest.

She goes into her kitchen and puts the kettle on whilst he roots through her DVD collection and finds the one he's looking for. She brings in the hot chocolate with little marshmallows in as the New York cityscape appears on her screen. She settles down and begins to sip hers slowly, blowing on it gently to cool it down. Like the true man he claims to be, he chugs in down in five gulps and sits back, throwing his arm around her shoulder.

She nestles down in his hold and finds that instead of '_Something's Coming_'she had shut her eyes momentarily and now Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer are singing '_Tonight'_. She tells herself to stay awake and concentrate but before she knows it, she's watching the insides of her eyelids.

She wakes up, tucked into bed, as the sun creeps in through her blinds. His joggers and OSU hoodie lay folded on her vanity table. She smiles to herself. She gets out of bed and pads into the kitchen, finding a note that reads,

_Thanks for last night Rach, I had a good time. You fell asleep just after 'Officer Krupke' … guess you weren't enjoying it that much ;) Anyways, as your dutiful best friend I tucked you up and you were off, sleeping like a baby. _

_I'll call you later; have a good day at work._

_Yours, _

_N x_

She smiles to herself again, fingering the note in her palm. Bar that one week in high school, her and Noah had never broached the possibility of a romantic relationship, but as she looked at his small engraved 'N' she thought to herself that he really was the best thing she never had.

**_[Fin]_**


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